Got a Smoke?
by MidnightsNightmares
Summary: She always has one in her mouth. Joshua's getting sick of it.


Viola slid the money across the counter to the aged man on the other side, watching as he reluctantly slid the pack of cigarettes back, taking the cash and unlocked the register. It slid open, the change inside jingling with the fast movements of the tray. He placed the bills in their rightful place before scooping out the change, handing it to her. By the way he was eyeing her down, he didn't believe the plastic card she had shown him. But it fit standards for the regular ID, so he had no choice but to take her word for it and allow her to purchase them.

Joshua was waiting impatiently outside of the drug store, hearing the bells on the door chime as she walked out. Scowling slightly, he watched her open the pack, flicking it out so one of them stuck out. She placed it in her mouth and dug her hand into her pocket, flicking open the zippo lighter once she found it and lit it. He sighed, approaching her just as she inhaled some of the choking smoke.

He honestly hated how often they would have to pause in a mission for her to go and purchase a pack of those awful things. She didn't give any attention to his complaints of the smoke smell and how it burned his nostrils. Viola merely told him the first time he did to get over it. He supposes it's one of those 'you're an asshole so I'm going to do this to piss you off' sort of things.

"Smoking isn't good for someone your age, Viola," he scolded, seeing her glance at him from the corner of her eyes. Her glare was icy and a bit heartless, almost like she viewed him as some sort of freak. She shrugged.

"Oh well." Was her calm reply, grabbing him by his wrist. She pulled him forward roughly, dragging him away from the drug store. "No mission today either?" She inquired, not bothering to look back at him.

"No." He said, pulling his wrist from her grasp, but immediately held onto hers. Viola paused, looking over her shoulder at him. Her irritability was obvious, as he had been complaining about this all the way to the convenient store."_What_?"

"I want to know," he said, reaching into her jacket to take the cardboard carton out. The sticks inside shifted in response, and the slight plastic she left on there crinkled under his touch. "How do you get these? There's no way they'd just sell them to a fifteen year old."

Viola brought the stick back to her mouth, inhaling deeply before exhaling, the smoke trailing up into the air quickly before clearing into the air. He resisted sniffling, as it would only earn him extra grumbling from her. "I know someone who knows how to make fake IDs. Your point?"

Joshua knew there wasn't really even an argument in this, so he slipped the pack back into her jacket pocket before letting go of her wrist. "It's bad for you. And I thought you didn't like making friends?"

"I don't," she replied, snickering. "I just said I knew a guy. I didn't say we were buddies or anything. He just owed me a favor or two, so he made a fake ID for me." Viola smirked, much like he would if he were the devious one. "Oh well, right? It's just paper, tobacco and smoke."

"And if you keep smoking those, you can get sick."

"We're dead, Joshua. We can worry about my fixation with cigarettes later. But either way, we have the day off. What do you want to do?"

Joshua took advantage of this. It wasn't like her to be so willing to let Joshua run free, especially since this whole not-receiving-missions ordeal began. "Why don't we go visit Mr. H? It's been awhile since we've visited him, hasn't it?"

"It's been two days, Kiryu." Viola took another puff of her cigarette.

"You asked."

"Let's go then."

**xxx**

Joshua couldn't help but roll his eyes once he saw Viola reaching into her jacket pocket, expectantly sliding another one of those awful things out. It sort of pissed him off to think that Mr. H would allow smoking in his cafe, but that was to satisfy himself. Mr. H even has the addiction and it seemed no matter where he went today, the scent of smoke followed him.

"Vi? You smoke?" Hanekoma blinked, watching as Viola lit her cigarette. He took note of how the zippo lighter took a bit longer then usual to produce flame. Viola would have to replace it soon. It looked slightly scratched up anyway. Almost like she had dragged it on the ground or something. Maybe it's tumbled out of her pocket when she was fighting.

She nodded. "Yes."

"When she shouldn't be," Joshua threw in, receiving a scowl from her the moment his sentence ended. "We talked about this. I'll worry about it when we get back to the RG."

"I hafta agree with J, Vi." Hanekoma said as she tapped her ash into the ash tray. Joshua distinctly remembers when Hanekoma bought it for the cafe, saying something like how it _brightened the place up_ almost (it still doesn't make any sense to him). "That ain't a good habit for you age. Well, for no ages, really. How'd you get into it?"

Watching her pale pink lips spread into a smirk, she giggled. "A little stress took me out of my way. Someone I knew offered me a cigarette, and I just...accepted. It's relaxing, I suppose."

Joshua groaned inwardly, wanting to reach over there and pluck the horrid thing out of her fingers and put it out. The next step would be wrestling her for the pack, but he knew none of it was worth getting his ass kicked for it. If he even dared to grab that thing out of her hand again and trust him he has tried, he'd walk around sporting another bruise on his cheek.

_Just don't worry about it_, he mocked her voice inside his head.

**xxx**

"Will you ever consider quitting?" It was nearing the end of day, and he had to get the question in before she blacked out. But as expected, he received another cold glare as she stepped on the burnt out cigarette. He almost scolded her for littering, but it was the UG. Litter would naturally disappear. Wouldn't even show up in the RG.

"What did I say? Just don't worry about it."

"I know," he said. "But will you?"

"Give me a reason why I should and maybe I will." Viola's tone was confident, almost like she was positive there was nothing Joshua could mention or think about that could ever make her care enough to finally get off those things.

He smirked lightly, watching as her eyebrow immediately perked up at his sudden expression.

"What are you so happ - "

It all happened so fast, Joshua wasn't even sure he processed it all. He had grabbed her by her triceps, jerking her forward ever so gently to softly place a kiss on her lips. He wouldn't put it past her to jump backwards and knee him where no man would ever desire to be knee'd, but when he felt her go motionless, he was a bit stunned.

When they parted, he was still smirking. He made sure their proximity was intimate, and giggled lightly. "Would you stop for me?"

The only reply he got was her blushing.

**xxx**

This is crap. It's two am. Good night.


End file.
